


north of your heart

by jangmun



Category: X1 (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Angst, M/M, Snow King!Yohan, Snow Queen Adaptation, Vague Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-10
Updated: 2020-06-10
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:35:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24516247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jangmun/pseuds/jangmun
Summary: The North has been frozen for almost ten years. Hangyul wants to do something about it.
Relationships: Kim Yohan/Lee Hangyul
Comments: 2
Kudos: 16
Collections: Challenge #1 — Fairy Tale Thoughts





	north of your heart

“And what makes you so certain that you’re going to be able to solve the Frozen North, Hangyul?” Dohyon slams his glass onto the table, shooting a rather intimidating glare to the aforementioned, who’s attention had been previously focused on something else in the room, rather than the question at hand.

Hangyul takes a moment to think on the question, watching the glances of the people around him, each just as curious as the last to hear his answer. “Well, something needs to be done. We can’t live in fear any longer.”

The Frozen North, almost ten years of torturous cold, is creeping into the borders of the Kingdom of the East, Hangyul’s home. Her roots are burrowed deep into the outskirts, threatening each day to grow only deeper, and if it continued surely she would engulf their Kingdom in the same frozen weather. Hangyul, as unfit as he might be, has had enough. His six years of training and two years of teaching have taught him everything he can possibly know about fighting the visible enemy. He wants more. He _needs_ more.

“No one can defeat the King. He’s magical, Hangyul, a sorcerer!” Dohyon shakes his head vigorously. “You can’t go alone, at least.”

“You’re not coming with me.” Hangyul stands up. “Dohyon, in case I— if something happens to me, they’re going to need someone else well trained.”

“Hangyul…”

“I’m not going to discuss this any further.” He heads for the exist, upset but understanding. Dohyon just can’t go with him, however.

Hangyul sets out in the morning, mounting his horse just before the break of dawn, packed with water and weaponry and his small vial of confidence stored away somewhere in the crevice of his mind. Somehow, he will find an end to the Frozen wasteland, and protect his Kingdom, protect Dohyon.

The journey to the borders of the North is rather smooth, only getting colder the closer he comes. Eventually the fog pushes away enough for Hangyul to catch a glimpse of the frozen trees bordering the North, eerily blowing in the wind, ice cracking and falling off in pieces as the trees below struggle against it. And once he’s directly at the edge, he hopes off his horse and ties her to one of the few living trees, cautiously taking a few steps forward. By now, the sun has nearly set, leaving him with the early glimpses of moonlight reflected off the trees above his head.

The cold draws him in, and Hangyul’s feet are moving before he even thinks about it, before he consciously decides to venture in. Surprisingly, after the fog, the North looks relatively normal— snowy, but normal— and Hangyul revels in the normality of it all. Something familiar calls him into the center of the town. “Why must you come here?”

“Your frozen wonderland is rooting itself into the Kingdom I swear to protect.” Hangyul walks forward, looking around for the voice, looking for the one person he’s been searching for.

“You should leave, Hangyul.”

Finally, Yohan appears from the fog, snow surrounding him moving away from his feet, piling onto itself and forming a pathway for the King. Hangyul’s breath catches in his throat, amazed by the beauty of his old friend. “I can’t, Yohan.”

Yohan shakes his head. “You have always been so stubborn, haven’t you?” He smiles, empty and cold as their surroundings. “So be it that your Kingdom fall to the Frozen. Your people disgrace me.”

“Do I disgrace you?” Hangyul is shivering, maybe from the cold, or maybe from the shift in Yohan. No longer is he this heart warming, bright fighter, everything about him is as cold as the frost he brought onto the Kingdom of the North.

“Of course not.” Yohan’s hand reaches out, gracefully touching Hangyul’s cheek with his thumb, somehow warm despite everything telling him Yohan’s hand should be cold. “But you must go. I cannot stop this.”

In some ways, Hangyul is sure he understands why. He remembers when they were younger, when Yohan was just understanding his power over the cold, when he made the mistake of using it to save Hangyul’s life. Yohan’s power is uncontrollable, or at least Yohan isn’t sure how to control it. Hangyul wishes he could help. “Please go home, Hangyul.”

“I will not.” Hangyul plants his foot in the ground, looking into Yohan’s ice blue eyes, hoping that maybe he can find something he can save. “Let me help you, at least.”

“That’s all you do, Hangyul. That’s all you want to do, save people. I don’t need saving!” Yohan raises his hand defensively, threateningly. “Now leave, please. Don’t make this harder.”

Hangyul is determined to do what he set out to, what he has wanted to since they were younger. He grabs Yohan’s arm by the wrist, aiming it downward, ice shards forming on the ground below. “Hangyul!”

Yohan’s second attack doesn’t miss, fired from his right hand. Instantly, Hangyul falls. “I’m sorry, Hangyul.” The frost tears through his entire body, and he’s _shivering_. It’s freezing. Why isn’t he dying? How isn’t he dying? What did Yohan do?

Yohan is gone, and in his wake is a snow storm that coats the ground in fresh white dust, falling around Hangyul but never on him, even if he outstretches his hand to feel. It’s avoiding him, just like the man behind its existence.

The cold subsides in Hangyul. Home sounds rather peaceful, rather inviting. Only when he dares to step outside of the frozen fog again does he realize the severity of the attack on him is. The moment his body leaves the direct cold, it freezes. Hangyul manages to step back into the North, and his muscles relax, his body warms back up. Carefully, he reaches a hand out to his horse, experiencing the same frost. Yohan intentionally hit him, freezing his body. Perhaps this is the curse he’d warned Hangyul about, the curse of the frozen heart.

Perhaps he should’ve stayed home.

**Author's Note:**

> Soo I kinda had a head canon that this story then delves into a childhood friends-to-enemies-to-friends-to-lovers au, because Yohan trapped Hangyul with him, and he has to deal with Hangyul's natural clinginess and annoyingness.


End file.
